Sin is a loaded word. For those outside the faith, it’s a funny and dated religious term. For Christians, we repeat it so often that it loses its bite. Scripture reveals that sin is worse than we know. Jesus is so serious about it that he says, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.” What is it about sin that’s so fatal it would require Jesus to go to the cross?
This Lent we do a soul examination, studying all the ways God describes the complex of sin. Lawlessness, adultery, rebellion . . . The cancerous nature of sin means that we need to go deeper than surface confession. The problem is worse than we know, which makes our Savior greater than we can imagine.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord Jesus, you suffered evil at the hands of the religious establishment. Priests accused you of blasphemy. In their trial against you, they called the Good Shepherd evil. Forgive your people when we call evil good and good evil. We are sheep easily led astray. Renew us to be your people, clean and holy. Amen.
Word
Matthew 27:31
“And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.”
Meditation: Desperate People, Loving God By Julianna Shults
Matthew 27 is full of desperation.
Judas is desperate to be forgiven for his betrayal of Jesus. He charges back to the chief priests and elders, hands them back their money, and hopes somehow he can reverse the terrible thing he has done. But there is no undoing it.
Pilate is desperate to find a way out of crucifying Jesus without causing a scene. He prompts Jesus to defend himself. When Jesus won’t, Pilate tries to have him released at the crowd’s request. All the while Pilate can hear is his wife’s warning in his head to have nothing to do with this man. He can see Jesus’ innocence, but he can also see the crowds of people calling out for Jesus’ crucifixion.
The chief priests and elders are desperate to find a solution to their Jesus problem. This teacher who called them out, performed miracles and taught as one with authority was causing all kinds of upheaval for them. They were willing to pay, willing to rile up a crowd, whatever it took to make sure that Jesus’ was silenced for good.
We read about these desperate people keenly aware of their sin. Each seeking a way out. Judas’ desperation leads him to end his life. Pilate’s desperation causes him to try to wash his hands of the matter, even though he knows no show of washing will cleanse him from his part in killing an innocent man. The chief priests and elders justify their actions, believing what they are doing is ultimately for good.
We are desperate people too. Caught in a tangled web of our own sin, we don’t see a way out. Our sin causes us to fall into despair, to make a show of turning away only to have our sin follow us, or to justify ourselves in any way we can. We see ourselves in this story as Jesus approaches the cross.
What happens next is not an act of desperation, but an act of sacrificial love. Jesus takes all their sin, all our sin with him to the cross. Jesus dies on a cross so that our selfish, panicked, hopeless, broken selves can be made new.
Our attempts to get rid of sin on our own aren’t needed anymore. At the foot of the cross, we are forgiven. We are made right again through the blood of Jesus. Our loving God sets desperate people free.
Dear Savior, thank you for the sacrifice that ends our despair and desperation. Help us turn away from sin and live with the joy and freedom of forgiveness. Amen.
Sending
In the face of evil, may the God of faithfulness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Jesus Christ. Amen.